TEXARKANA, Texas - Charles Beatty Moore was a man born in Arkansas, but a combination of being born into high society and coincidences of history would see him mingling with many famous faces of history and bear witness to important events of the same.
This was revealed in a Saturday lecture at the Ace of Clubs House, put on by Texarkana Museums System, in concordance with the coming delivery of several pieces of original correspondence held by historians in Virginia, written by Moore, who wrote letters extensively during his adventures.
"Charles Beatty Moore was the second son of Henry Moore, Sr., a Civil War veteran who had served as a private in the 26th Arkansas Infantry," said Thomas W. Cutrer, local historian and lecturer. He then described Henry Moore's establishing himself, with a law degree from University of Virginia, serving as general attorney for the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway Company, as well first Democratic clerk of Lafayette County following Reconstruction. He married Katharine Fleming of Lexington, Missouri. The couple had their first son, Henry Moore, Jr., in 1874. Charles Beatty Moore was born in January 1881.
After losing the Moore home in a fire in March 1893, they purchased what became known as the Draughon-Moore house from William Whitaker, the house's second owner. This would eventually be known as the Ace of Clubs House.
"Charles Beatty Moore, however, spent only a few years in this house before embarking upon what was to be a remarkable military career," said Cutrer.
While in high school, he announced his intentions to seek a commission at West Point and serve in the "Yankee Army." This did not set too well with Henry Moore. His father told him to sit on that for a year. Charles Beatty Moore did. And after that, he was off to West Point and the beginning of a military career that would see him travel extensively, meet, serve with, and even drill with historical figures such as George C. Marshall, Douglas MacArthur and Dwight D. Eisenhower, all before they went on to claim their own fame.
Charles Beatty Moore trained allied troops, got a taste of command under fire in Europe during World War 1, found out that South Texas is hot, mosquito-ridden and that Army food was bad at the time. In fact, enjoying years of posh life in European diplomatic assignments, helping to broker peace in various conflicts, he got a bit of a taste of the high life, and his subsequent correspondent efforts revealed distaste when he had to eat like the soldiers ate.
Charles Beatty Moore eventually married Matilda Gay Montague, daughter of Governor Andrew Jackson Montague of Virginia, sister of Brigadier General Robert Latane Montague, United States Marine Corps, and cousin of Wallace Warfield Simson, the Duchess of Windsor. The two originally had met in Europe and found each other again in the States, eventually moving back to the Ace of Clubs House in Texarkana when he got the assignment to reorganize the Arkansas National Guard.
Eventually, his military career would take him back to Virginia, where he and his wife were extensively involved in preserving historical Alexandria, Virginia, of which Gay Moore even wrote a book, Seaport in Virginia: George Washington's Alexandria.
Charles Beatty Ward died in Texarkana, Texas, Jan. 26, 1951, at the age of 70. Matilda Gay Moore live on to the age of 97, dying in Richmond on Sept. 7, 1951. The couple are buried beside one another in Christ Church Cemetery, Middlesex County, Virginia.
The Moore family owned and lived in the Ace of Clubs House for 91 years. Olivia Moore would live in the home for 65 years, far longer than any other resident. Recognizing its historical and cultural significance, more than any other single individual, she was responsible for its preservation. She had the house listed as a Texas historical landmark in 1964 and in 1976, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.